It Was All For Nothing
by Denaliyasha
Summary: Trory. Bribed into a party with promises of free coffee, Rory runs into an old "friend", who's living on her floor... She never slept with Dean.
1. His Mary, Her ET

It Was All For Nothing

Disclaimer: If I owned it, Tristan would come back and end up with Rory and they'd live happily ever after. Draw your own conclusions.

A/N: I know, I know, I should be working on No Matter What They Tell Us. However, I got bitten by the plot bunny (or eagle, in my case) and so, ta da. Here you go. This probably won't be updated often, I write this in the back of my notebook when I'm bored in class. Read, review, and all flames will be used to expand gases in my chem class. Have fun!

"Aaron, remind me why I'm here?" Rory was whining at the host of the party she was at, her friend Aaron. It was the summer before her senior year of college, and she had been dragged to Aaron's house in Loudonville, New York. He was having the equivalent of a Hartford society party, and Rory couldn't believe that she'd been conned into it.

"Because I promised you coffee."

Oh, yeah. That's why she'd come. "Mmmk. Where is it?"

"No, no, no." Aaron laughed at the eager look on Rory's face. "First I want you to meet someone."

"You'd better not be trying to set me up again. The last time I went on a blind date for you, I was wiping my hands of the slime for a week." She shuddered.

Aaron grinned. "No. This is just a guy friend of mine who I think you'd get along with." At Rory's dubious look, he laughed. "He's got a good sense of humor, he's smart, and, as weird as this sounds coming from a straight guy, he's really good looking."

Rory sighed. "Alright. Sure. Whatever."

"Great. Hey, T!" Aaron yelled to someone across the room. Rory sighed and closed her eyes. "T! I'd like you to meet a friend of mine!"

"You'd better not be trying to set me up again."

Rory recognized the voice, and her head snapped up. "BIBLE-BOY?"

"MARY?"

Aaron looked from Tristan to Rory. "You know each other?"

Tristan smirked. "Yeah. Aaron, this is my Mary."

Aaron's jaw dropped. He'd heard of Tristan's Mary, who hadn't? She was the reason that Tristan didn't date much, and when he did, he dated brown haired, blue-eyed, intellectual types. And she was also the reason he was addicted to coffee.

"Five years and you still can't remember my name. And I'm not your anything." Rory turned to Aaron. "You remember all the stuff I said about 'ET'?"

"Sure. The guy who made your life hell in Chilton."

"Did I never tell you what it stood for?"

Aaron looked confused. "Yeah, Evil Trist…" His eyes got wide. "Ooooohhhh! Evil Tristan. This Tristan!"

"Aw, you had a nickname for me. I always knew you loved me, Mary."

"Yeah, that's why the word evil is included in it."

Aaron looked between the two of them, Tristan smirking at Rory, Rory glaring daggers at Tristan. He backed away slowly, a little scared. "I'm just gonna go greet my other guests, now…"

"COWARD!" Rory yelled after him. She turned back to Tristan. "You idiot. When you left, I had to kiss PARIS. PARIS of all people. I'd just gotten over my suicidal instincts about kissing you, then I had to kiss Paris. Do you know how horrible that was?" She shook her head. "Aaron doesn't know you all that well. He said you were smart, good-looking, and had a good sense of humor. I don't know why I believed him. And I still want my textbooks back!" She turned and stalked off to find someone else to talk to. Tristan ran after her and grabbed her arm.

"Rory, look, I'm sorry. Can we start over again? Please?" Rory looked skeptically at him, searching his bright blue eyes for sincerity.

"All right…" Rory said warily.

Tristan smirked. "So, how are things with the bag boy?"

Rory glared. "He's married. I don't think this is going to work, Tristan. Goodbye." She turned and walked off.

Tristan grabbed a drink from a table in the corner, watching Rory in her blue dress floating around the room. She laughed at jokes, she chatted with friends. It was hard, like the Chilton formal. She was there, but she wanted nothing to do with him. He didn't even notice when Aaron came up to stand next to him.

"She is gorgeous, isn't she?"

"Mmhmm."

"You know, if you'd ever mentioned her real name, I would have told you that I knew her and you would have had your Mary back a long time ago."

Tristan sighed. "It doesn't matter. She hates me, anyways."

Aaron laughed. "Well, yeah. You're a jerk. You're egotistical, you are self-centered, and you're a playboy. Remember, she doesn't know you. She knows Tristan-from-five-years-ago. You've got to convince her you're serious, or she'll never let you near her. Oh, and you might want to let people know she's your Mary. Otherwise, she's gonna get hit on. A lot." With a wink and an oddly Tristan-like smirk, Aaron strolled off into the living room.

A week and a half later, Rory went back to Yale. Same as last year, she was sharing a room with Paris. This year, however, it was in an apartment just off campus. Rory was in her bedroom, putting some things in the dresser when someone knocked on the door. "Hey, Paris, can you get it?"

Muttering something about lazy roommates, Paris made her way across the box-filled room to the door. When she opened it, her mouth dropped open.

"Hey, Gellar, long time no see."

"Tristan! What are you doing here?"

"I just transferred to Yale, heard you lived on the same floor of the same building as I did, so I stopped by to say hi."

Paris looked stunned. "Hi… come in. You can sit on any box not labeled fragile."

Tristan laughed and perched himself on a box that had originally held a microwave. Suddenly, there was a voice from the kitchen. "Hey, Paris! Have you seen the box with the coffee maker?"

Paris glanced around. "Yeah, it's in the box Tristan is sitting on."

"TRISTAN?" Rory stuck her head around the doorframe and groaned. "Why me?"

"Well, hello, Mar… Rory." Tristan stood up, hefted the box and carried it over to her. "Where do you want this?"

Rory looked at him suspiciously. "Why are you being so nice? And since when do you remember my real name? And it goes right there." She pointed.

He gently eased the box onto the counter and smiled. No smirk, just a smile. "I am being nice because I AM nice. I always remembered your name, I just chose not to use it. I'm not a teenager anymore. I can be civilized."

"What are you playing at?" Rory was incredibly skeptical. "Why now, why after all this time? Why couldn't you have been nice to me in high school when I had no friends?" A faint 'Hey!' drifted in from the living room, and Rory corrected herself. "No friends until after you left."

Paris came to the doorway. "She's right, you know. Tristan, you were a jerk. Believe me. It's weird seeing you all nice."

Only Tristan heard when Rory muttered, "And I don't think I'm ever going to get used to not having you call me Mary."

"So, Mary, Paris, you want to go out for coffee?" Both of them looked at him, startled. Paris wondered why he hadn't asked Rory out yet, and Rory wondered why he was calling her Mary again, but it didn't sound mocking. It sounded like an affectionate nickname, not a teasing one. Thinking of free coffee snapped Rory out of her confusion.

"Let's go. You're buying." She was out the door before the other two had time to register what she'd said.

A/N: You've read, now review. Gratias ago!


	2. His Addiction, Her Confusion

It Was All For Nothing

Disclaimer: I don't own it. I wish Tristan would come back…

A/N: Wow! You love me! I feel so special when I get 14 reviews for something I wrote down cause my muse wouldn't leave me alone. Here you go, as requested, one more chapter. I love my little fiction… thank you all for reading it.

Chapter 2

Rory beat them both to the coffeehouse. By the time they got there, she'd already had at least two cups of coffee. Surprisingly enough, that had actually calmed her down. Tristan and Paris sat down with her, and they started chatting about life over the past five years. Tristan told them about military school, and Paris filled Tristan in on her fling with the professor.

"Ewww…" Tristan made a face.

"I know. That's what I said, too." Rory smiled.

Paris looked between the two of them. She noticed all the tension, like there had been in high school. However, she also noticed the adoring, almost bordering on stalker-ish obsession look in Tristan's eyes. She decided these two needed a push. "Well, if you're going to insult my choice of boyfriends, I'll leave."

She got up and left without giving Rory a chance to offer to walk her back. The table suddenly became very silent. "So… how was military school?"

"It was ok, but it was lonely without my Mary." He smiled across the table at Rory. She blinked, blushed, and tried to write off that comment as just another stupid Tristan thing. However, he sounded completely serious and happy to see her.

"Well, Chilton never recovered from the loss of its king." Rory grinned. "We didn't get a new one."

"Glad to see none of them forgot me. Actually, though, I'm surprised. Those people will suck up to whoever they think is cool."

"This person doesn't," Rory said quietly.

"I didn't mean all of them. But enough about me. How's your life been? Umm… If you don't mind me asking, how's bag… Dean?"

"Dean dumped me when I kissed Jess."

"What happened to Jess?"

"He left. And then Dean got married. And then he tried to seduce me."

Tristan's jaw dropped. "While he was still married?"

"Yeah."

Tristan couldn't believe it. "What kind of a girl did he think you were?" He was furious. At Dean for thinking Rory was some kind of slut and at himself for not being there, as corny as it sounded.

Rory was taken aback by the controlled hatred in his voice. "I don't know. Lindsay divorced him when she found out, and he tried to get me back. I told him to go to hell. And then it turned out that Lindsay was pregnant so they got married again."

"Wow. Bagboy's an idiot." Rory sighed. He'd gone back to calling Dean names. Not that she hadn't called him worse things…

What scared her a little was the complete lack of feeling in Tristan's eyes. It felt like she'd been shut out, like he'd shut a door. It was hard, because she didn't know this Tristan. Nothing about this Tristan made sense. He called her Mary, but he said it with an affectionate, adoring tone. He put down Dean, but seemed mad at him on her behalf. He bought her coffee and drank almost as much himself. He still said suggestive things, but he said them in a completely serious voice. And he had more feelings than he used to, and he had the ability to hide them all at any point. It was confusing, to say the least.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Tristan could see the thoughts rushing behind Rory's eyes. He just wasn't sure what thoughts they were.

"Please," Rory said in a mock-indignant tone. "My thoughts are worth at least three dollars each."

"Well, then, three dollars for your thoughts?" Tristan persisted.

"You've changed." Rory gestured expansively with her hands. "Sure, you've gotten taller and you're in better shape and all," here she blushed at the smirk on Tristan's face, "but you also act differently. You say the same sort of things you said before, but you sound like you mean it now. You call me Mary but it sounds like a pet name. What is up with you?"

"I don't know. I'm not the King of Chilton any more, you know. I'm a kid who spent a long time in military school because I wasn't over a girl."

"You broke into that safe because of Summer?" Rory's eyes got wide and she tilted her head to one side.

Tristan's eyes went flat, like someone had turned out the lights. "Yeah, I wasn't over Summer." He sounded exactly like he had after she'd set him up with Paris. Why didn't she see that he had never actually liked Summer? That the only reason it had bothered him that she broke up with him was that she had done the breaking up? That the only person he'd really cared about at Chilton was her? That she was the only person who had ever seen him as a person and not as the king of Chilton? She was so naïve, so sweet, so… his Mary. Even after all these years, she still didn't get it.

"Oh. I'm sorry." Rory didn't get it. He sounded so depressed. It didn't sound like he was over Summer yet, even after all this time. "Well, at least military school gave you an addiction for coffee. Nice to see that it did something for you."

"Actually, you got me hooked on coffee."

"YAY! I corrupted another one! Wait, how did I addict you to coffee?"

"Well, you loved it so much, and it made you smile and act all happy. I figured it couldn't be that bad."

"Oh. Cool. I never knew that I had that sort of power. Starbucks should hire me. I could go out and get people hooked on coffee, and… I'm babbling. You know, I think I'm only lovable when I'm not being annoying or babbling…"

Tristan laughed. "So for about three minutes a day."

"Hey! It's more like four!" Rory stuck her tongue out at him. "And I've already used it up for the day. So I get to be annoying and ramble for the rest of the time."

Tristan winced. "Please don't."

"Awww, Tristan doesn't like my babbling?"

"No, I love hearing about everything under the sun…" The sarcasm was dripping from his voice. Rory smiled.

"Hey, we just had a civil conversation! Do you know how cool that is?"

"Yes, I do." And he did. Tristan was glad that they'd been able to talk like normal friends. It was a step towards his ultimate goal. He knew he was in love with Rory Gilmore, he just hadn't realized how much until he saw her, sitting there, small, dainty hands wrapped around her coffee cup, cheeks pink, eyes bright, smiling at him like he was a human being. It was nice, considering that at one point she'd told Dean that she'd hated him. Obviously, she was willing to give him a third try, even after he had been such a jerk at Aaron's party. He didn't deserve it, and he was grateful.

"Hey, Tristan?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember, you're paying for the coffee."

"How could I forget? Hey, we should do this again. Let's not go five years without chatting, ok?" He stood up, handed her money to pay for her coffee (which she'd paid for when she'd gotten it, so he was reimbursing her), and smiled. "And Rory?" He paused, about to leave.

She looked up from her coffee. "Yeah?"

"If you need any help with lockers that won't open, let me know."

A/N: There. I did it. Well, ok, here's how it's gonna work. I'm going to try to update at least one story a week. I've also been bitten by the plot eagle again, so there might be another chapter story coming. I might write a bunch of it before I post it, though, just so it doesn't interfere. But if I update a story once a month (though I'll really try to do more, I promise. I'm just easily writers-blocked and busy) it'll be the bare minimum. I'm glad you liked this story, I hope you like this chapter as much as the first one. It's a bit longer, but this will be about as long as they are going to get.


	3. Her Towel, His Five AM

It Was All For Nothing

Disclaimer: It all belongs to Fluffy. No, really, I don't own any of it. Not one thing. I envy those who do. And Tristan isn't back yet, which is a clear indicator of whether or not I own it. And if he does come back, it's pure coincidence. I still won't own it. However, you won't even need to wonder until he's back.

A/N: Well… it's that time again. I love you all. Here's another chapter, all for you. Nice and fluffy, just the way I like it. And I hope nobody's thinking I'm rushing this. I have a definite plan (I think), but all my ideas stem from the fact that they're friends. So, I need them to BE friends quickly. Okey dokey. Please don't flame, and on with the story.

Chapter Three: Her Towel, His Five AM

After the first Friday of the school year, Paris and Rory wanted nothing more than to watch movies and sleep for a week. Other people, however, had other plans.

"I'm bored. Let's all go to a movie, my treat." Tristan walked into the girls' apartment without knocking. He froze at the sight of Paris stretched on the couch in her pajamas and Rory standing behind her. The thing was, Rory had just taken a shower, so she was just wearing a towel. Luckily, it covered everything, but it was still short.

"Out. OUT!" Rory screamed and ran into another room. Paris jumped up and pushed an unresisting Tristan out of the apartment, slamming the door in his now bright red face. He stood there, embarrassed, for about five minutes, and then the door opened again.

"Have you ever heard of knocking, Bible-boy?" A now fully dressed Rory was blushing slightly. "There is a reason you knock. It's to inform whoever you're going to go barging in on that you are going to barge in on them!" Her eyes were practically flashing with anger, and somewhere in the back of Tristan's mind, he decided that she was beautiful when she was angry. He had to bite his tongue to stop from saying it.

Instead, he ventured a bribe. "Can I make it up with coffee?"

Rory's angry glare dropped to a smile. "Of course. Let me get my coat."

As she ran off happily, Paris leaned against the door frame. "You really know how to manipulate, don't you, DuGrey?"

"Yup. You know it." Tristan grinned cockily and Paris winced.

"I've known you since we were little. I can tell that you've been in love with Rory since the minute she showed up at the dance with another guy. It's that sort of attitude that will make her dislike you again. You should count yourself lucky that she hasn't killed you yet. Aaron's not the only one she told about 'E.T' and if you don't watch yourself, he won't be the last. Oh, hey, Rory, you guys have fun!"

Rory paused on her way down the hallway (without Tristan, she'd left him standing in the doorway). "You aren't coming?"

"Nope. Too tired."

"Oh. Ok." Rory continued towards the stairs, forcing Tristan to run after her.

"Hey, hold up, Mary."

They walked in silence to the coffee shop. After ordering coffee, Rory spoke up. "So, what now?"

Tristan pretended to ponder. "Well, what about a movie? My treat, like I was suggesting earlier?" When he saw she was hesitating, he smiled. "I'll even buy you copious amounts of popcorn, soda, and candy."

"Sure. Why not?" Rory grinned. The two of them walked off towards the movie theater, chatting amiably.

"So, how was military school? I mean, I know I asked you about this earlier, but I don't really think you answered the question."

"Well, let's see. I had to get up at five in the morning, I had to essentially spent three quarters of the day in gym, the rest of it was intensive studying… that's about it."

Rory grimaced. "You mean there's such a time as five am? I thought that was a myth."

Tristan laughed. "I take it you aren't an early riser, then?"

"You guessed right, oh Spawn of Satan."

"Oh, hey, I've been meaning to ask. Why do you call me Bible boy? Spawn of Satan and Evil Tristan I can understand, but Bible boy?"

"You call me Mary. Biblical insults, therefore you get dubbed Bible boy. Makes perfect sense." She looked at Tristan like he should have figured this out already.

"Ah. I see."

"Why did you start calling me Mary again?" Rory asked the question she'd been wanting to ask for a while. It confused her, this nice, helpful Tristan. He'd called her Rory once or twice, then started calling her Mary in a different tone.

"Hmm." Tristan thought about it. "Well, I heard you say you wouldn't be able to get used to me not calling you that, so partially it was me being obliging, but part of it was that it was my nickname for you. It felt weird to call you Rory. To me, your name is Mary Gilmore."

Rory looked at him incredulously. "Are you serious?"

"What?"

"You managed to convince your brain that my name was Mary?"

"That's not what I meant! You nickname your coffee maker, I nickname the girl I…" Tristan clapped a hand over his mouth to prevent himself from saying 'love'. Rory looked at him curiously.

"The girl you what?"

"The girl I… am trying to get." He knew the minute he said it that it was not the right thing to say. In fact, it was really, really, REALLY the wrong thing.

"Oh, so that's it? I was a stupid conquest? Well, you know, I think I'll pass on the movie. Thanks for the offer, though." Rory turned angrily and stepped to the curb to hail a cab. Tristan grabbed her arm.

"That's not what I meant at all. Mar, come on!" She flinched at the use of the nickname and climbed inside the cab that had just pulled up, shaking off his arm as she went.

Rory could not believe what had just happened. He'd been nice for the last couple of weeks, called her Mary in a nice way, helped them get unpacked in their apartment, bought them coffee. He'd also avoided making fun of Dean. Just when she'd thought he'd changed, he came back with this. It was so typically ET.

She paid the cab driver and raced back up to her apartment. She ran right past a startled Paris and flung herself on her bed. She didn't cry, but she was still hurt. No girl likes to be told that they were pursued for some reason other than because the guy actually liked them.

Paris, seeing this, immediately picked up the phone to call Tristan's cell.

"Hello?" Tristan's voice sounded depressed, but Paris didn't notice.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?" Paris hissed in a harsh whisper. She didn't want Rory to know she was calling Tristan.

"I was an idiot."

"What happened?"

"I made some comment about nicknaming her because she was the girl I loved. But I stopped myself before I said loved and she asked me what I had been going to say and my old self came back. I said that I'd nicknamed the girl I was trying to get."

Paris smacked herself hard in the forehead. It was so like Tristan to revert to his evil self when he had nothing to say. "Well, you'll just have to fix it, won't you?"

"Got any ideas?"

"Well, here's some…"

A/N: Well, you'll have to find out next chapter what he's going to do. Have fun reading. Email me if you want to beta. Gratias.

-Den


	4. Her Coffee, His Towel

Disclaimer: It's not mine. Consider it disclaimed.

A/N: Okay, so I was really against everything but Trory and JavaJunkie fics, but then I saw this one episode of GG. It was a rerun and all, but it was the one where Rory meets Logan. I started doing a little happy dance, cause Logan is like Tristan all over again. Yay! The whole "Master and Commander" exchange was great. I'm also taking artistic license here. In my world, Tristan was big on giving jewelry and other expensive stuff to his girlfriends at Chilton. He also hasn't told quite everyone about his Mary, just most people. Anyhow, here's the fourth chapter in my It Was All For Nothing story. Let's go to the story to see what Tristan's gonna do to fix his screw up…

Chapter Four: Her Coffee, His Towel

When Rory woke up the next morning, she couldn't recall what had put her in such a bad mood. Then she remembered. Tristan. Tristan, who had been so nice and… un-Tristan like lately. Tristan, who had told her she hadn't been a friend, just a conquest. Rory sat on the edge of her bed to ponder this. First of all, why did she care so much? She'd always known he was just trying to get her to go out with him because she wouldn't. Why did that knowledge suddenly make her unhappy? Secondly, why had he spontaneously reverted to Evil Tristan? She liked nice Tristan; Rory was slightly surprised to realize. She'd thought they were friends. But then he'd said that… and he'd smirked while he said it…

"Rory, there's something here for you." Paris sounded amused, calling from the living room.

It had to be something interesting if Paris were amused, Rory figured, so she dragged herself out of bed. "What?"

"Umm…" Paris pointed. Sitting on the kitchen table was a brand new coffee maker and a bunch of exotic coffees. There was also a note. Rory picked it up to read.

_Rory,_

_I'd like to explain to you what I meant. Call me: 555-3032_

Spawn of Satan 

Rory glared down at the piece of paper in her hand, then looked at the coffee maker. Her gaze flicked between the two for a few minutes. Finally she picked up the phone and dialed the number.

"Hello?"

"…" Rory didn't say anything.

"Hello?"

"I'm waiting. Explain."

"Rory?"

"Who else?"

"Oh. Ok." Tristan sounded slightly exasperated. Not that she blamed him, of course. She was being deliberately annoying. Why, she didn't know. Her musing on that topic came to a halt as Tristan launched into something he'd obviously practiced a few times.

"Ok. First of all, at the beginning, you were just a conquest. Then, I realized you weren't interested, so I tried harder. And then I realized I'd rather have you as a friend than have you hate me. So yes, I nicknamed you because you were a girl I was trying to date, but that's not what you are anymore. And secondly, I didn't mean for it to come out that way. I'm really sorry that it sounded like that."

"You do realize that if you ever say anything like that again I'm going to be forced to do something drastic. Like lock you in a room with Paris." Rory's voice was very matter-of-fact.

"So I'm forgiven?"

"It's a start. Thanks for the coffee." She hung up.

Paris stuck her head out of her room. "That wasn't very nice of you. And I'm not even talking about threatening him with me. I mean, he was really sorry. Come on, he bought you a coffee maker. And you weren't very polite to him."

"And you are suddenly an expert on relationships because…?"

"I can tell, ok? I've known Tristan since we were in diapers. You knew him too. Think about it. Would Tristan have given you anything if he weren't sorry?"

"Yes," Rory said shortly. Paris had a moment of realization. Rory must have seen Tristan giving gifts to girls at Chilton. Girls he dumped, all of them. That would explain why she had been so hesitant to take the PJ Harvey tickets and why she was being all weird now.

"Ah. Well, it's not jewelry. It's not something disgustingly expensive or hard to get. It's something he knew you'd like. THAT is not normal for him. Think about it." Paris sent one more glare in Rory's direction and went back to her book.

Rory made herself a cup of coffee with the new coffee maker (and she had to admit, it made good coffee). She curled up on the couch with The Phantom of the Opera, the original book, but she couldn't focus on the beautiful story. She sipped slowly at the elixir of life she held in her hands, and thought about how out of character this was for Tristan. Well, out of the character she used to know. It was in character for the person she'd thought he'd become. Which is what confused her. He kept having moments where he slipped back into ET, but he seemed to make an effort not to. Ack. It was too much to think about. She forced her gaze back down to the mystery in front of her. She'd figure it all out later. Much, much later.

Tristan, meanwhile, was glaring at his phone as though it was the source of all evil. It wasn't Rory he was mad at, it was himself. He leaned back in his desk chair and closed his eyes. One hand came up to run through his already messy hair. If only he hadn't been such a stupid idiot. While he couldn't think of anything else he could have said instead, he was mentally kicking himself for letting himself get into that situation in the first place. He could have come up with another explanation for the nickname.

He stood up, pushing his girl troubles out of his head, and headed for the shower. When he was through, he wrapped a towel around his waist and proceeded back to his room for clothing. However, his progress was impeded by a knock at the door. Not really caring that all he was wearing was a towel, he went over to answer it.

"Hey, can we… oh, god." Tristan found himself looking down at a very shocked, blushing Rory.

"Like what you see, Mary?" Tristan wanted to slap himself. That sentence had jumped out without thinking.

Rory, on the other hand, was sort of frozen. She'd resolved that she was going to be less touchy about things like that. However, her resolve was being tested sooner than expected. So, she did the only thing that made sense to her fogged brain. She flirted back. "Yeah, looks like military school did do you some good." She poked Tristan in the abs and walked past him to sit on his couch. She could see his jaw drop and she inwardly grinned. That had been totally unlike her and yet, oddly satisfying. She'd made HIM uncomfortable, instead of the other way around.

Tristan pulled his brain back together and asked, "Did you actually have a purpose in coming over here?"

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you. In person. And it was ridiculous to use the phone when you're on the floor."

"Okay… I'm gonna go put some clothes on, I'll be right back out."

He made his way into his room and started pulling clothes out of the drawers automatically. Rory had flirted back. AND she'd poked him in the stomach. And now she wanted to talk. Tristan couldn't figure her out. One minute she's saying she hasn't forgiven him yet and the next she's in his apartment acting like… well, sort of like a feminine version of him. The world was getting way too complicated. He finished dressing and headed back out to the living room.

"You said you wanted to talk?" He sat down on a chair and looked expectantly at Rory.

"Yeah. Umm... I wanted to say I understood what you meant by 'the girl I wanted to get', and I'm not sure why I flew off the handle like that. Also, I wanted to ask you why you gave me a coffee maker? I mean, most people just say sorry."

"Well, I said I was sorry, and you got in a cab." Tristan was glad she was having a civil conversation with him. Knowing Rory and how she could be when she was mad (Mr. Medina, 'nuff said), he was surprised that she was letting him off so easily.

"Well, yeah, it's just…" Rory couldn't find the words to describe it. "Why? I mean, you aren't my boyfriend. I'm also pretty sure you don't think I'm the type of girl who will do anything for presents."

Tristan decided to be perfectly honest. "Look, if I thought you'd forgive me for a present, it would have been something like jewelry, something expensive." _ Chalk one up to Paris,_ Rory thought. "But I know you aren't that type of girl, so I bought you something you'd like to show I was serious when I said I was sorry. It wasn't a pointless fight, you had every right to be mad at me and I felt guilty. That's why."

Rory smiled tentatively. This whole situation had unnerved her. "Well, ok, then, we're good?"

"Yeah, we're good." Tristan couldn't help smirking.

"Ok. See you later." Rory got up and headed for the door. She opened it and narrowly missed getting hit in the face by the young man who was about to knock. "Sorry. Did know you were there." He stepped aside and she left to walk down the hall. He turned to look at Tristan.

"Who was that?"

"Rory Gilmore."

"Really? She your flavor of the week? She certainly fits the profile."

"Sam, we're just friends."

Sam grinned. "Oh, really?"

A/N: Ok, the significance of Sam will be explained next chapter. I've got a definite plan for this story, it's all written down. My other stuff will be put on hold for the most part until this story is finished. I'm going to finish my fics one at a time, but I might post the odd other chapter here and there. Also: I'm still going to post one shots if the plot eagles attack. See? I'm going to be responsible and finish a major fanfiction. It'll be another nine, maybe ten chapters after this one. Review!


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